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by Ely_Baby



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: hp_het_taboo, Cousin Incest, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Infidelity, Sibling Incest, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-29
Updated: 2014-08-29
Packaged: 2018-02-15 06:17:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2218929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ely_Baby/pseuds/Ely_Baby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily has always wanted to emulate her mother, but after she sees something that she shouldn't, she just can't figure out what's wrong and what's right anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





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**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for [](http://hp-het-taboo.livejournal.com/)[hp_het_taboo](http://hp-het-taboo.livejournal.com), but it turned out to be very different from the other entries. There's more plot than smut, more feelings than dirtywrong goodness, more angst than you probably want to read. This was beta-read by the awesome [QueenBtchoftheUniverse](http://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenBtchoftheUniverse) who helped me a lot by creating a bit of UST where there clearly wasn't any.

***

 _When will this end? It goes on and on_  
 _Over and over and over again_  
 _Keep spinning around I know that it won't stop_  
 _Till I step down from this for good_  
  
Lifehouse, _Sick Cycle Carousel_

***

Kenmare Inn was advertised as quaint and tranquil, with a swimming pool in a backyard that overlooked the lazy waters of Kenmare Bay, and a Concealing Charm that kept the Muggles more than fifty feet away from its beautiful garden.

It was also the only Magical Inn in all County Kerry, and it was swarming with fans of Puddlemere United and journalists of the most prestigious newspapers who needed to document the upcoming final between the River Piddle team and the home team, the Kenmare Kestrels.

According to Lily’s mother, Oliver Wood’s Puddlemere United didn’t stand a chance against the Kestrels. Not when their Captain stubbornly used the same attacking formation that they had been pulled off for the whole season.

Not that Lily particularly cared about whoever won the League that year. Her own favourite team, the Harpies, had gotten fifth place, and even though it wasn’t as bad the Cannons, it was still a rather disappointing result.

But for now, all that Lily cared about was that she didn’t have to do her homework, that she could soak in the sun near the pool of the inn for a week and that she could go out into town every night with Hugo, while her mother wrote her articles and Uncle Ron went into some pub with Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas to talk about the old times and children and other matters that old wizards such as themselves would talk about.

“You’re going to roast like a piece of chicken if you stay in the sun any longer.” Hugo leant his chin on the back of his hands and looked at her through his auburn eyelashes. His wet hair dripped water onto his nose and he grinned when she raised her eyes from the Muggle romance novel that Rose had lent her that morning, before the four of them took a Portkey that had her landing on top of his cousin and kneeing him rather unceremoniously in his family jewels by mistake.

“I’m perfectly fine, thank you,” she replied, going back to her book. “You’re going to get out of there and look like a dried plum, though.”

“I’m perfectly fine.” He cupped his hands in the water and his grin grew wider as he pushed them forward, pretending to splash water in her direction.

Lily jumped up from the beach chair. “Don’t you dare!” she snapped, stepping away from the swimming pool. “I just reapplied my sun lotion. No! Hugo!”

He laughed at her and abandoned the idea of spraying water on her slippery body, instead he pushed himself out of the water and stepped towards her.

“No, Hugo! No!” But she was already laughing when she threw the paperback on the chair and ran away from him. “Hugo, no! No! I don’t want to! Hugo! No!” But his legs were a good ten inches longer than hers and he was grasping her waist before she could even find a way to dodge him. “Hugo!” She was laughing hard now and it was impossible to fend off his assault as he dragged her to the swimming pool and jumped in with her in his arms.

She barely had the time to close her mouth and shut her eyes before she was sinking into the water with bubbles tickling all over her stomach and her legs. Hugo grabbed her again and brought her back up. She took a deep breath and hung onto him when she reached the surface, and as the air filled her lungs, his laughter filled her ears.

“You’re awful!” she sputtered unconvincingly, coughing water and grasping his shoulders.

He didn’t stop laughing as he leant back against the wall of the swimming pool. “And you’re ridiculous,” he replied calmly, “lying in the sun all day instead of enjoying the water. Honestly, Lily, how many times can we swim in something that is bigger than the tub in the Prefect Bathroom?”

She shook her head as she tried to stretch her legs to find the bottom of the swimming pool. There wasn’t any for her, but she found Hugo’s legs and leant the balls of her feet on his knees. “Every time we go to the Burrow? Every time we go to Tinworth to see Uncle Bill and Auntie Fleur?” she retorted.

Hugo chuckled. “Good point,” he replied. “Anyway, want to race me?”

Lily rolled her eyes. “You’re such a child, Hugo.” She shook her head and pushed away from him, grasping the side of the swimming pool and trying to get out of the water.

He grasped her waist again and pulled her to him. “As opposite to you, who are a well seasoned woman in her forties.” His amused laughter was slightly infuriating. “Come on, you’re sixteen, you can’t spend a week reading romance novels. Aunt Muriel does that, and she’s almost two centuries old.”

She tried to grasp the side of the pool with her fingers, but they slipped on the polished tiles. He pressed against her back and she stiffened slightly, knowing full well that he would try to push her underwater at her first distraction. She had grown up with Albus and James after all, she had probably gulped down more scummy water from that pond than pure in all her life.

“I think that we should go and take a shower,” she pointed out as he dragged her towards the middle of the swimming pool, “they said that they serve dinner from six in the evening and I’m sure your dad wouldn’t want to have to wait for us.”

“Merlin, Lily,” he whispered in her ear, “you’re no fun at all. You always say that you want to be like your mum, but I’m sure Auntie Ginny at sixteen raced all her brothers in the pond.” He planted a kiss on the nape of her neck and she could feel him smile against her skin. She shivered slightly in his arms when a careless finger brushed against the side of her breast. Suddenly, her skin covered in goose bumps and when she swallowed she found her mouth a bit dry.

“At sixteen my mum was fighting Voldemort,” she croaked out, trying to shove him away from her. “And I don’t want to race you because I would just beat you and make you cry. Like when we were five and I got to the highest branch of the old oak.”

“Yeah, as if,” he laughed. “Keep dreaming little girl.” He finally let her go and she just had the time to turn and see his feet slapping the water before he had already started swimming away.

She should have gotten out of the water. It was evening already, the air was getting colder and colder and soon they would have to go to have dinner in the pub. If Dad had been there instead of Uncle Ron, she wouldn’t have cared as much, but she didn’t want Uncle Ron to have to wait for her because she had to dry her long hair without magic or apply just that tiny bit of make-up that her mother allowed her to. But Hugo was right, her mother wouldn’t have thought twice when one of her brothers challenged her to do something, and Lily wouldn’t be any less adventurous than her.

“Alright,” she finally agreed when Hugo swam leisurely back to where she was floating. “Just once. The first to get to the other side and back wins.” She smirked as she went to grab the side of the swimming pool. “Don’t cry too hard when I beat you.”

“Likewise.”

***

Lily won, but Hugo didn’t cry. To be quite honest, she suspected that he had let her win and she couldn’t quite stand it. She asked for a do over and he agreed to do that the following day.

“Okay,” said Hugo, collapsing on his bed and carelessly wetting everything, from the pillowcase to the covers. “You can take a shower first.” He smirked before she could reply anything and added, “I take like five seconds, while you are just like Rose and take something like three hours to get ready. So I don’t mind napping a bit while I wait for the bathroom.”

She glared at him. She didn’t take three hours, she was very quick. Quicker than Albus at times. She was a bit like her mother, or at least she tried to be. “No need for you to be so chivalrous,” she told him, drawing out a dress from her suitcase. “I’ll have a shower in the other bathroom.”

“We have two bathrooms?” He seemed suddenly interested, as if that was a piece of information that he could have shoved into Fred’s or Louis’ face once they got back. _We had two showers. We met Oliver Wood. The inn had a swimming pool…_

Lily rolled her eyes. “No,” she replied, her tone the one she would use with a child. “I’m going to shower in my mum’s bathroom.”

“The one she shares with my dad?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow at her. “Well, good luck with that… if my dad has already showered, you better wear some slippers.”

She wrinkled her nose at him and shook her head. Trying to balance all her shampoos, shower gels, towels, and clothes in her arms. “I’ll be fine.”

“Suit yourself,” he grinned, standing up from the bed. “I’ll be in the shower. _Our_ shower.”

She didn’t even wait for him to close the door of the bathroom before she was already walking towards her mother’s room. She got one of the very best rooms in the inn, she was a journalist after all. Lily and Hugo were just her guests that the Daily Prophet had agreed to pay for, since she was one of their most important Quidditch correspondents. The most important probably. Rita Skeeter couldn’t be taken seriously when it was up to commenting on a Quidditch match.

It was a suite with an en-suite bathroom and a little study where she could write her articles that recounted the trainings and the interviews that the captains of the Puddlemere and of the Kestrels granted to the press. She should have shared it with her husband, but Dad was working on a secret mission that week and thus Uncle Ron had proposed to come with them, just for fun, really, and because Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas were there too and he was looking forward to a little get together.

And because the inn was filled to the brim with journalists and fanatics, Mum had to share the room with Uncle Ron. Lily had tried with all her forces to propose that she share the room with her mother and have Hugo and Uncle Ron bunk together, wanting more than anything to spend some time with her before she was off to Hogwarts for her sixth year. But both her mother and Uncle Ron had reminded her that if the three of them were kind of on holiday in the beautiful countryside of County Kerry, her mother was there to work and would have had to stay up late and wake up at some ungodly hour every morning. Uncle Ron had sighed and told Lily not to worry. He was a heavy sleeper and he had shared a room with his sister in the past, when Uncle Bill and Uncle Charlie were still home. And she would have much more fun with Hugo, talking up late, playing Exploding Snap and doing all those things that teenagers did.

She clutched her things to her chest as she walked past a group of wizards, but they were too busy talking about bets and Wronski Feints to even notice the little half-naked teenager. She hurried to her mother’s room, where a shiny number 54 was stuck on the door. She knocked three times, and waited. Her wet bikini was ice cold against her skin now, and she was longing for a boiling hot shower before heading downstairs for dinner.

She knocked again. Three times, her secret knock to let her mother know that it was her. A stupid secret knock, as James said, but her mother always knew that it was her.

Still there was no reply.

But surely her mother and Uncle Ron must have been in there, getting ready for dinner or reading the local newspapers or deciding what to do the upcoming day or the day after. Where else would they be?

“Mum?” she tried, knocking again. “Uncle Ron?”

She groaned in disappointment when nobody replied. “Muum!” she called again, pushing the handle down without thinking and unexpectedly succeeding in opening the door.

For a moment she was surprised to find the entrance to the room unlocked. Surely they had to be in there then, at least one of them. Uncle Ron was an Auror for crying out loud! He knew better than to leave doors unlocked.

She hurried inside and closed the door at her back. “Mum?” she called again. “Uncle Ron?” Still no reply, but now that she strained her ear to listen there was the pounding of the water coming from the bathroom. Someone was taking a shower.

She rolled her eyes to what had been a great exercise in futility. She had just walked through the coldness of the corridor in her bikini and a towel and come all the way to her mother’s room for nothing. Well, not for nothing. Maybe her mum had almost finished her shower, or if it was Uncle Ron, maybe it would take him five seconds like Hugo.

The water was loud and she wondered if whoever was in there would have heard her at all. She knocked loudly, three times, but there was no reply.

She knocked again, louder, and this time there was a thud as if a bottle of shampoo ended on the floor or something and then a little cursing.

“What?” Her mother’s voice was muffled through the noises of the shower and the door, Lily thought that she sounded a bit breathless as well like that. Probably she was taking a steamy hot shower and most of the air in there had turned to water vapour.

“Mum, it’s me,” she replied. “I wanted to take a shower in your bathroom…”

There was a moment of silence, as if her mother was thinking what to reply, and when she spoke again her voice was slightly high-pitched. “Lily, it’s better if you use the bathroom in your room,” she told her, “I’ve just got in here.”

“But yours is bigger and you can dry my hair with magic when I’m done.” She tried to push the door open but this one was locked. “I’ll wait here.”

“No,” she replied urgently. “No, Lily, use your bathroom. You’re going to be late for dinner.”

“But…”

“Lily, just go.” Her voice was irritated now, and for a moment Lily was crestfallen to have angered her mother with her childish antics. “I’ll see you downstairs. Go.”

“Alright,” she finally sighed. She had to balance her stuff once again in her arms before managing to open the door and slide out and towards her room once more.

***

Dinner was enjoyable. Uncle Ron had invited his friends, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, to eat with them. They spent the whole evening laughing out loud, thinking about the good old times, and remembering that her mother used to date Mr Thomas back at school.

“You know what you’re going to do tomorrow?” asked Mr Finnigan, downing his third pint of Butterbeer as he regained his composure after their umpteenth joke on what her mother used to do with Mr Thomas.  

Uncle Ron glanced at her mum and smiled a little. “We wanted to go hiking on the Beara Way Walk, down near Kenmare Bay, they say that the view is breathtaking there.”

“I thought you had to work all day every day, Ginny,” chuckled Mr Thomas, winking at her mother.

She shook her head. “I have some free time,” she admitted, “I have an interview with Oliver Wood tomorrow afternoon though. Not looking forward to hear him bragging about Puddlemere for the umpteenth time this season.”

“Can only agree with you, Ginny,” grinned Mr Finnigan, his strong Irish accent got thicker with every pint.

“Let’s get out of here.” Hugo’s voice, even though it was just a whisper in her ear, startled Lily out of her musings.

“Out where?” She quirked an eyebrow at him. “We didn’t even have a look at the town today, do you even know where to go?”

“And it’s late,” her mother scolded them, “we’re leaving first thing in the morning for Beara, you need to get some sleep.”

Hugo’s blue eyes rolled not so subtly in front of his aunt. “Come on, Auntie,” he coaxed, “we’re on holiday. And I basically never see my little cousin here.”

“Except at Hogwarts and every other day at the Burrow,” pointed out her mother.

“Touché,” he grinned, “but come on. We’re young, we don’t go to bed at eight like you do…” His arm slid around Lily’s shoulders as he pulled her to him. “Just a walk to the pier, and then we’re off to bed. Solemnly swear.” He raised three fingers in an abstract gesture of oath and smiled just like Uncle Ron used to do when he was talking to Lily’s father.

It must have worked its magic, because her mother sighed and waved a hand in their faces. “Go,” she sighed, “but be careful and don’t walk too far. It’s late and it’s dark and if you get lost I’m not quite sure there’re lots of people around here at this time who can point you towards the inn.”

“Promise,” grinned Hugo. He was up and tugging at Lily’s arm before she could even say good night to her mother or Uncle Ron or their friends. She saw their confused expressions and then her mother was probably explaining where they were going, but soon the two of them were walking out of there and into the chilly air of the evening and it didn’t matter anymore what they were saying.

“Bloody hell,” Hugo cursed, “they’re so boring.” He turned towards her as they made their way to the pier. “Lily, promise me that we’ll ditch them for the whole week to do everything we want.”

She shook her head. “I like to spend time with my mum and with Uncle Ron,” she informed him, “and I honestly don’t think that there’s enough to do to keep us busy for a week here…”

The moon was shining over the calm waters of the bay. Her mother was right, there was nobody, Muggle or Wizard, in that place. But they couldn’t have gotten lost even if they’d tried, the promenade followed the waters all the way back to the town and it was a straight line of concrete under their feet. The pier was a short, wooden-made wharf that had some lights at its sides and a closed bar in the middle.

“First thing first,” he continued, seemingly ignoring her, “we’ll get away tomorrow morning.”

“Excuse me?” She placed her hands on her hips, trying to look as intimidating as her mother or Grandma Molly.

“We’ll just walk a bit farther than them,” he replied, stopping to look at the waters in front of him. “Just because I’d rather not spend all my time with your mother nagging me just like my mother would do. I’m on holiday for crying out loud.” He eyed her carefully. “And you’re not being very fun.”

“What are you talking about? I’m super fun.” She folded her arms across her chest and pouted, probably looking supremely un-fun.

He startled her again when he grabbed her arm and pushed her towards the water. “Hugo!” she screamed, grasping his shirt in her hands.

He chuckled and pulled her to him. “Okay, now you’re fun.”

“You’re an idiot!” But she knew that the insult wasn’t really heartfelt when he laughed at her and crushed her in a tight embrace against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his torso and for a moment forgot why she had just called him names. Hugo felt strong and warm against her, and Lily slowly got lost in the feeling of being held by him.

***

The Beara Way Walk was long, winding and mostly deserted, especially at seven in the morning. It skirted the coast and gave off a feeling of peace to the people who rambled through it.

They spent half of the morning walking up and down little hills, and staring at the green grasslands and the little villages scattered in front of them. Lily and her mother were excited every time they walked past a herd of cows, and Uncle Ron and Hugo just shook their heads and took pictures of the girls petting a cow and grinning like idiots.

It was almost eleven when the energetic breakfast that they had had before leaving the inn started to not be enough anymore. Uncle Ron’s stomach was the first to grumble and he was the first one to propose to stop on the top of a little hill that overlooked a puddle of water that the locals called a lake.

Hugo grasped Lily’s wrist securely in his hand. “We’ll be down near the coast,” he announced.

“Who says I want to go to the coast?” But Lily’s tone was amused rather than annoyed and she just snorted unconvincingly when he started to drag her away.

“Don’t go—”

“Too far. No, Auntie, we won’t. There’s nobody here anyway.”

They walked down a steep path that led to the coast and climbed over a smooth boulder that overlooked the sea. They sat one next to the other and ate sandwiches that they’d asked the inn to make for them. When they couldn’t feel their legs anymore, they decided to go explore the place a little bit more thoroughly.

He helped her down and they walked on the wet grass close to the water. Sometimes their feet ended up in the salty water itself, and they squelched uncomfortably on the ground afterwards. But they didn’t go back up to ask for a Drying Charm to be cast upon them.

They walked until they found a path that led back to the main road and walked back up. The little town in front of them was called Eyeries, and its streets were almost as deserted as the Beara peninsula was.

“Is it true that you want to become a Quidditch player?” asked Hugo as they walked past a small greengrocer’s.

She looked at the people walking slowly past them. “Shh,” she shushed him, “Hugo, they are Muggles.”

“And they’ll think you’re a bit weird.” He chuckled as he slowed down and waited for her to walk next to him. “So, is it true?”

The sun disappeared behind a cloud. “Yes,” she replied. “I’ll try out for the Harpies.”

“What position?”

“Chaser, obviously, that’s my position in the team, or have you forgotten that already?”

He laughed again. “Sorry, Captain,” he chuckled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “I haven’t forgotten.”

“You better,” she grinned, trying to punch his arm playfully, only to have him pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.

“Dia duit.”

Hugo didn’t release her when they turned to look at the old woman sitting on a stool. She smiled gently at them and lowered her knitting needles onto her lap. “So many tourists this week,” she told them, “are you here for some sporting event?”

Hugo dragged her where the woman was sitting and Lily could get a good look at the small table in front of her. It was covered in painted rocks and little jewels.

“Kind of,” replied Hugo with a smile. “Many tourists? We didn’t see that many on the way here.”

Lily picked up a little rock. A lush shamrock had been painted on it.

“For good luck,” said the woman gently. She looked at Hugo and added. “Don’t you want to buy something for your girlfriend, lad?”

She felt a blush creep down her neck. “I’m not his—mnph!”

“Girlfriend.” Hugo’s hand had landed on her mouth as he finished the sentence for her. “She’s my wife.”

Lily rolled her eyes. She put down the rock and tried to shake her head and push away his hand from her mouth.

“Aww.” The woman was already swooning at that piece of information. Honestly, could she not see that if they were married for real she should have called the police on child safety grounds? “Then I’ve just the thing for you,” she smiled sweetly. “Here.”

She pushed a little ring into Lily’s palm and for a moment, as she inspected the golden jewel, she forgot about Hugo’s hand over her mouth. It was a thin, gold band with two hands, framing a heart and a crown on top of it.

“Aww, that’s lovely, isn’t it, darling?”

Lily glared at him as she pushed away his hand. “Lovely,” she replied. It really was, actually, and she loved rings.

“It’s a Claddagh Ring,” explained the woman. “Depends on how you wear it, it tells if you’re single, engaged or married.”

“That’s absolutely amazing.” She didn’t know why, but Hugo’s tone sounded almost mocking. “But I don’t think we’ve enough change for it. You know, walking around for the hills, it’s not exactly like we bring around a lot of money with us.”

The woman smiled gently at them. “Not to worry,” she replied, “it’s a present. For your wife. To bring her good luck and many happy years together with you.”

The blush that was creeping on her neck reached her ears, and Lily just hurried put the ring back on the table. Had she added to bring fertility to their union, she would have just died. “That’s really sweet, Ma’am,” she told her, “but we could never. We’ll come back with some money. We’re here all week.”

“Nonsense,” said the woman, “take it, dear.”

Hugo made a sound as if to choke down a laughter. “Isn’t she sweet? Take it, dear,” he encouraged her.

Lily shot him a glare, but refusing the ring and telling the woman that that empty head there was her cousin and not her husband sounded almost heartless now. “Thank you.” She tried to smile, but all she could think about was to punch Hugo really hard on his arm now. She took the ring and slipped it in her pocket. “We better go, _darling_ ,” she gritted through her teeth.

Hugo’s arm wrapped once again around her shoulders. He pulled her to him and flashed the woman a smile. “Ma’am,” he said, tipping an imaginary hat, “thank you for your gift. I’m sure it’ll bring us luck.”

The woman’s beam just added more guilt on top of Lily’s conscience. Hugo was going to hear her as soon as they were out of the woman’s earshot. “Slán go fóill,” she replied, and Lily imagined that it meant either ‘you’re welcome’ or ‘goodbye’ because once again she was picking up her knitting needles and focusing back on her work. Hugo dragged her away and towards the centre of the village, which was a church and a few houses around a square.

“We just stole a ring!” she spat not loud enough for some eventual bystanders to hear her.

“It was a present,” he pointed out with a grin.

“We lied to her.”

“Not my fault if she was not smart enough to understand that I’m far too handsome for you.” He laughed at her as she tried to swat him.

“Maybe that I’m too pretty and lovely and intelligent to even think about being with someone like you.”

“Mean.” He stuck out his tongue to her as he stopped in front of a quaint, little church. “Shall we go back? I’d rather not have to walk all the way back to the inn because our parents left us here.”

She nodded in agreement as she fished out the ring from her pocket once more and looked at it. It was pretty, and as she slipped it on her finger, she looked at her hand and at the way it shone in the sun.

“Lovely, m’dear wife,” grinned Hugo.

“Zip it.” She glared at him while they walked out of the village.

On the way back, Hugo pointed out three kestrels for her, and she managed to see a wild rabbit that was too fast for him. He joked that he was too tall and she was too short, thus he could only see things in the air and she could only spot things on the ground. He was probably right.

The way back was longer than expected, and the sky clouded while the air got chillier. They walked more briskly towards the end, as they approached the little hill where their parents were waiting for them. Surely, Uncle Ron was dozing off on a blanket and her mother was writing more Quidditch-related questions.

“If it gets any colder we won’t be able to go to the swimming pool,” complained Lily. She shivered slightly. “Didn’t we bring something? A jumper maybe?” She reached for Hugo’s backpack, but there was nothing in there.

“We’ll ask my dad or Auntie Ginny to cast a Warming Charm,” he proposed.

She nodded thoughtfully.

“Or I can tickle you until you get all warm.” He moved his hands to her sides and made her squirm under his fingers.

“No! Hugo! You’re horrible!” she said way too cheerfully to actually believe it. She tried to push him away and he chuckled as he let her go and stepped back. She just had the time to see something shiny flying between the two of them and then the ring was tumbling down the path again.

“Oh man!” she groaned, following it with her eyes. “I’ll get it.”

Hugo nodded. “I’ll tell the old people that we’re here,” he called behind her.

She nodded distractedly, staring at the place where she had last seen the ring. She hurried back down the path, trying hard not to stumble over the rocks. The sky was getting darker and the wind was blowing loudly now. What a boring afternoon that was about to delineate for them. At least Hugo had assured her that he brought more Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes than he knew what to do with them.

She crouched on the ground, moving the wet grass around to find the little golden band. If the sun had still been out there, it wouldn’t have been that difficult. Or if she were of age she would have just Summoned it from the ground.

It didn’t matter though, because the ring was there anyway, easy enough for her to find it. She picked it up and brushed it against her tee-shirt. She was just in time to raise her eyes and look at Hugo marching towards her and lift up the ring to show it to him triumphantly and say, “I found—” that he grabbed her wrist and dragged her away and towards the coast once more.

“Hugo!” she tried to protest, but when he stopped near the same boulder where they had had their lunch, he just leant against it and stared at the sea.

She frowned at the young man who had been tickling her until a few minutes before and now looked rather upset. “Hey, are you okay?”

He took a sharp breath and turned to look at her. He enveloped her in his arms and squeezed until she couldn’t breathe. “Yes, yes,” he murmured in her ear, “I’m okay.”

Somehow she didn’t believe him.

***

When it rained on holiday it was always ten times worse than when it rained at home. At home at least, there was always something to do, or a fireplace to use to go to see someone. On holiday, they were stuck in a room with just some Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes to keep them company and an infinite game of Exploding Snap.

Uncle Ron had asked if he could play with them while her mum was out interviewing Oliver Wood, but Hugo had told him rather dryly that he didn’t want old people around, and Uncle Ron had looked at his son rather taken aback. Lily as well. They played for the whole afternoon, until it was time to take a warm shower and get ready for dinner. Her mother came to see them after the interview and she seemed rather satisfied of how her questions had made Mr Wood all nervous. Lily listened and giggled every time her mother told her about an insidious matter that she had asked the Puddlemere Captain about, but Hugo didn’t even smile.

Dinner that evening was fun. Lily kept talking about the little village and the woman and the ring and their walk near the water. Uncle Ron glanced at Hugo when she told them that he lied to the woman in that way. She expected her mother and her uncle to scold him, but they simply chuckled and glanced at each other.

“What are the plans for tomorrow?” asked Lily before following down the stew with a gulp of Butterbeer.

“I’m off all day to watch the trainings of the Kenmare Kestrels, Lily,” replied her mother. “I don’t suppose you lot want to come with me.”

“Trainings? No, thank you.” Uncle Ron laughed quietly. “How about we ask Seamus and Dean to join us on some little—”

“Lily and I are going to have a look at the village.” Hugo poked a piece of meat with his fork and stared pointedly at it wobbling in the sauce.

“Are we?” asked Lily. She didn’t remember making plans, and even though she wanted to see the village, it would have been alright if Uncle Ron and his friends joined them.

“Yes.” Hugo’s voice was forceful. He raised his eyes and looked at her. “I read somewhere that they have riding stables on the other side of the village. Don’t you want to go?”

Lily nodded. Horses. He knew what to say to convince her. “Yes, but Uncle Ron can come with us, I don’t mind.”

“Thank you, my sweetie,” grinned Uncle Ron. “Ginny, you want to exchange our youngest?”

Her mother rolled her eyes playfully. She opened her mouth to say something, but Hugo pushed back his chair and stood up. Even though the noise was swallowed by the sounds of the inn, they all looked at him.

“I’m going to take a walk.” His voice was grim as he walked away.

“Hugo! Hey Hugo!” called Uncle Ron. “Hey, I was joking.” But Hugo didn’t stop, and soon he was sliding out of the door and in to the night.

“Ron, what’s wrong with him?” asked her mother. Her voice a bit breathless as she looked worriedly at Uncle Ron.

He turned to look at her. “I have no clue,” he admitted. “I should talk to him.”

“I’ll do it, Uncle Ron.” Lily stood up before her mother or her uncle could protest, she made her way towards the wooden door and pushed it open.

The rain hadn’t stopped yet, and even though he was upset, Lily didn’t think that Hugo would be as stupid as to walk out into the storm. But the porch was empty and so was the little yard in front of her. She tried to call his name, but the noise of the rain swallowed her voice.

She glared in front of her. What was wrong with that empty head of her cousin? She took a deep breath and started to run under the big summer drops. Her freshly washed hair stuck to her face and down her neck. She could feel the water slip under the collar of her shirt. She called his name again, but there was no reply.

She walked all the way to the pier, but the water was pouring over her head and she couldn’t even see the sea. “Hugo!” she cried, impatience starting to seep through her voice. What if he hadn’t come all the way out there? What if he was sitting under an umbrella beach at the pool? What if he—

“Damn.” She felt her foot slide over a moss-covered rock near the water and flapped her arms around like a bird to try to avoid ending up in the water. She didn’t need to worry.

A warm hand closed on her upper arm and she was yanked back. She would have fallen to the ground if it wasn’t for the hard body at her back.

“What are you doing?”

She tried to wriggle free of his hand, which had become almost uncomfortable around her arm, but he didn’t budge. “Looking for you, you dim-wit!” she snapped. “It’s raining for crying out loud! Can’t you see?”

He shook his head and pushed her towards the path. “Go back inside.”

She turned to look at him. “What’s wrong with you?” Her voice was more surprised than angry. “What… what happened? Why are you being such a jerk?”

“I’m not,” he growled, without looking at her. “Leave me alone, Lily.”

She gritted her teeth. Her steps were quick and almost noiseless as she neared him and grasped his wrist. “No,” she replied. “Come inside with me. We’ll ask my mum to dry us.”

He twisted his hand out of her grasp and she startled when he closed his digits around her forearms. He scrutinised her with his stare. “You look so much like your mother when you give orders like that,” he murmured to her. “Do I look like my father?”

Her voice was feeble and she didn’t know why. “Yes,” she replied. “A lot, but what—”

“Let’s go back inside.” He seemed suddenly calm. Calm like Aunt Hermione usually was. He guided her back towards the inn without a further word. They pushed the door open and the people inside just plain ignored them, too drunk or too busy chatting to even cast them a hurried glance.

Their table was empty and a witch was making their dirty plates levitate into the kitchen. Hugo tugged her wrist and soon they were walking up the stairs. “Let’s go and ask my mum to dry us,” repeated Lily. “I can’t—”

“You go.” He pushed their door open and looked at her briefly before walking inside. Lily shook her head, well she was freezing to her bones and all she wanted to do was to dry herself as quickly as magic permitted. And surely her mother and Uncle Ron were worried sick. And if Hugo had gone temporarily mad, well, she would deal with him later.

She walked past a woman scolding a child about having eaten too much cake downstairs. Only then she remembered that she hadn’t had any dessert at all. Hugo would have to buy her ice-cream if the weather were nice tomorrow.

Her mother’s door was closed shut, and Lily raised her fist to knock on it. She didn’t bring it down though. She furrowed her brow and stared in front of her, narrowing her eyes as if she could see through the thick wood.

She had expected her mother to be there. And maybe her uncle too, if he wasn’t having some drinks with his friends. She had expected the place to be quiet, with her mother maybe working on her piece and Uncle Ron studying a map of Count Kerry.

But the room wasn’t quiet.

Lily closed her eyes to listen to the noises. Because there were noises. Someone was panting, as if they couldn’t breathe. Someone was slapping someone. Someone was almost crying. There were little screams, stifled by a hand, and words that Lily could not make out. There was a bed creaking and more slapping. Skin on skin. And more whispers. And more panting and more ragged breathing and more screaming and…

_And that sounded like her mother._

Lily stepped back from the door.

Her brown eyes were probably as big as two Galleons because her eyelids almost hurt her for how much she strained them.

No, there was something wrong. Something wrong. Dad was all the way back home, with James and Albus, he couldn’t… he couldn’t be there, and her mother… no her mother… she would never… never…

For a moment the face of Mr Thomas flashed before her eyes. _They used to date at Hogwarts._ Was he… no, her mother would never… never cheat on her father… it was all a misunderstanding… surely she was coming down with something already… Her ears must have been all stuffed… she didn’t hear properly…

There was another cry of release.

She stepped back and then back again. She turned on her heels and ran towards her bedroom. She pushed the door open and slammed it shut, startling Hugo out of his reading.

He looked at her and probably took in her drenched hair and her wet clothes. He was already dry and wearing his pyjamas, a towel was loosely hanging from around his shoulders, he seemed amused that she hadn’t been cast under a Drying Spell.

“Did your mum refuse to—”

She didn’t let him finish. She walked into the bathroom and shut the door at her back.

***

Her mum and Uncle Ron came to check on them later that evening.

Both Lily and Hugo pretended to be already asleep.

***

Kenmare was small, a fistful of colourful houses pushed together near the sea. The main street was filled with Muggle shops and antique pub signs. The main church was right in front of them, unmissable with its pointy tower and the sun washed walls. 

The day was glorious, like only a day that followed a tempest could be. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky and the sun was burning as hot and as shiny as it could in Ireland.

Hugo was back to his usual talking self. He kept joking about everything and tried to make her wear the ring as if she was married when they stopped in front of a tourist jeweller which had a chart that explained how to wear a Claddagh Ring.

She wrestled it out his hand, but not before he managed to push it into her digit with the point of the heart towards her.

The night before seemed ages away. The noises in her mother’s room seemed all part of her imagination now. She had woken up many times that night, and more than once she had been dreaming about her mother flirting with Mr Thomas and with Oliver Wood. But now, after she had had breakfast with her and her uncle, she felt as if she had dreamt everything.

But had she?

They had lunch in a quaint, little café that had a fistful of minuscule tables scattered on the busy pavement. As they chewed on the sandwiches, Hugo kept trying to start a conversation, but she was too lost in her thoughts to do more than hum an answer every now and then.

“What’s wrong?” asked Hugo in the end.

“Nothing.” Her reply was almost mechanic.

“Yes, right.”

“What was wrong with you yesterday?” she retorted, looking into his eyes.

He looked seriously at her before shaking his head. “Nothing.”

“Exactly.”

***

The day rolled on slowly and when they went to the stables, Lily was gushing over the horses and Hugo paid for her to ride for an hour. Afterwards, he joked that she stunk, and she knew that she really did. They had an ice-cream and when they got back to the inn the pool was too inviting not to go for a swim.

Hugo tried to push her underwater and Lily just brought him down with her. He emerged spluttering water and she just laughed at him. When he pushed her down once again, she resurfaced and hung at his neck, coughing water and grasping around Hugo’s torso like a baby monkey would do to her mother. But he held her a bit away from him, and the distance confused her since normally he was so at ease with invading her personal space.

“You’re evil.” She coughed a bit more as she moved to wrap her legs around his waist, unable to touch the bottom of the pool while he so easily could.

He grinned and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Horrible,” he agreed softly, moving to grasp her thigh and hike it higher over his stomach.

“Do we have plans for tomorrow?” she asked him, shifting her feet to get a good purchase on his body. The back of her heel nudged across the top of his leg, and for a moment there was silence while his eyes went wide. For a moment she thought she felt something warm and hard against her foot, but then he moved it and continued their conversation as though nothing happened.

“The Kenmare Stone Circle? Apparently it’s both a magical and a Muggle destination.” He waited for her reply and when she nodded thoughtfully he smiled at her. “Just the two of us.”

Lily nodded again. Perhaps she was only imagining things. “My mum is working, I think she has an interview with the Captain of the Kestrels tomorrow, and your dad… I don’t know, but I don’t mind if he comes, Hugo.”

“Just the two of us,” repeated Hugo firmly.

***

It was their third dinner at the inn and suddenly Lily realised how everything just looked the same. They met their parents for dinner, they talked about their day and they ate. Every evening. Three days into their holiday and routine had already overcome the excitement of something different.

“Did you have fun today?” asked Uncle Ron.

“It was alright,” replied Hugo quietly. “I liked to watch Lily screaming when the horse jumped.”

“I did not!”

“You did too.”

“That must have been fun,” said Uncle Ron, grinning at Lily. “Are we going to Upper Lake tomorrow? Ginny’s free the whole morning and Seamus and Dean—”

“No.” Lily spoke before she could even understand that she had done that. She took a deep breath. “No, Hugo and I… we’re going to the Kenmare Stone Circle.”

Her mother looked at her intently. “Oh, okay.” She placed her fork on her plate. “That sounds nice, I wouldn’t mind going with you, actually…”

“Just us, Auntie,” said Hugo lightly. “I’m sure you and my dad can find a million other activities to do to have fun.” He looked at her intently and her mother pressed her lips together in a severe line.

“I think they don’t want old people around, Ginny,” chuckled Uncle Ron. “Isn’t that right? They want to show that they are two grown up teenagers…”

“Exactly,” replied Hugo tightly. He brought some meat pie to his mouth and chewed almost noisily.

“But we’ve barely spent any time together.” Her mother looked at her, a hopeful smile stretched her lips, as if she expected Lily to say that she wanted to spend time with her.

“We’ll spend time together when we go to see the match,” she replied softly.

“We’ll be in the press stand and I’ll have to focus on the match, and you’ll leave for Hogwarts when we come back and—”

“Merlin, Auntie, leave her alone.” Hugo looked at her mother with his blue eyes narrowed to two slits, as if he dared her to retort something.

But it was Uncle Ron who snarled, “Hugo! Don’t talk to your aunt like that!”

Hugo just shook his head and snorted.

The rest of the meal went on in an uncomfortable silence.

***

“Let’s go.”

She didn’t even let Hugo say that twice. She followed him obediently out of the dining room of the inn where Mr Thomas and Mr Finnigan had joined them for drinks. They were talking about Fenrir Greyback and other convicted people who had managed to escape Azkaban the previous week, and the conversation had started to become way too boring – sentences, trials and magical laws – for the two of them.

“What do you want to do?”

Hugo chuckled when he plummeted on his bed. “Anything is better than listening to those people talking about work.” He fluffed up his pillow under his head and grinned at her. “Let’s play a game.”

Her eyebrow cocked instinctively at the proposition. “What game?”

“Truth or dare.”

She snorted, she slid from her bed onto the floor and opened her suitcase. “I hardly think so,” she replied. “I’m sure your dares are always horrible and your questions terribly embarrassing.”

He laughed. “I already know everything about you.”

“That’s not true.”

Hugo looked at her intently as he said, “You stayed behind after the last Quidditch match at school. And Mark Zabini stayed behind as well. And a little bird told me that someone was very flushed when she walked out of the changing room…”

Lily felt a blush creeping up her neck and over her cheeks. “That’s none of your business!” she snapped. She drew out her book, but remembered that she had already finished it the night before, when she couldn’t sleep properly.

“You don’t have any more books,” quipped Hugo, “I guess you’ll have to listen to me… truth or dare?”

“I do have more books!” she snarled.

“No, you don’t,” he replied amusedly. “Okay, truth. Did you go all the way with Zabini or did he just kiss you?” 

She felt herself blushing to the roots of her hair, even more so when she glanced up at him and saw how intently he was staring back at her. He looked as if he would have pounced on Zabini on the Hogwarts Express, was she to tell him what had happened in that changing room. “I don’t want to play, Hugo!” she snapped. “And I do have more books. They are just… just…” They were not there. For a moment she thought that Hugo had taken them because he just wanted to be a jerk, but before she could accuse him she remembered that she didn’t have any more room in her suitcase. “My mum has them,” she replied with finality. “I’ll go and get them.” Her teeth dug into her bottom lip.

Her mother was surely still downstairs.

Unless she hadn’t decided to go back to her room early.

Maybe with Mr Thomas.

She shook her head. No, that had not been real. She had just imagined things.

She stood up from the cold floor and didn’t even glance at Hugo as she walked out of the room.

Of course, if her mother was still in the dining room the door would be locked and she would have to wait. Or go back to her room. Or go downstairs and call her. And maybe interrupt her and Mr Thomas flirting under Uncle Ron’s distracted glance.

 _No, that had not been real_.

She walked briskly towards room 54. The sooner she got those books, the less she had to listen to Hugo’s annoying pieces of information about her private life.

The first thing she did when she got to the door was knocking loud and clear. She didn’t want to hear anything, not even what her ears were tricking her to believe that she was hearing.

But tonight, not a sound came from inside.

“Mum?” she tried to call.

Nothing.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Out of frustration, she pushed her hand on the handle of the door, and to her surprise, just like two nights before, the door opened. Was her mother in the shower? Why would they leave the door unlocked? Didn’t they know that surely people wouldn’t have thought twice about introducing themselves into Mrs Potter’s suite to look for Merlin knew what?

She made a mental note to tell her mother how thoughtless they were, and started looking for the suitcase. The bathroom door was open and the light off, so the room was really deserted. Her mother and Uncle Ron’s luggage was not there, though. Surely it wasn’t in the bathroom… no, there it was, in the little study that came with the suite. She crouched on the floor, opened it and started rummaging through her mother’s stuff.

She had so many ink bottles and feet of parchment that they took most of the room in there. Then she had a pile of lingerie, nice things that Lily didn’t understand why she would wear while Dad was back at home, and dresses and shoes. And her books were probably at the very bottom, like all things hard and flat.

Suddenly the door opened and someone walked inside. Lily pushed a pile of socks away and finally reached the books. She was about to let whoever had entered the room know that she was there when her mother’s voice filled the suite, high-pitched and nervous.

“They’re onto us, Ron,” she snapped, her steps quick on the floor.

“Who? Seamus and Dean?” asked Uncle Ron. There was a creaking of springs as he sat on the bed.

“No! Lily and Hugo.”

Uncle Ron snorted at that. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not being ridiculous.” Her steps stopped.

“Yes, you’re always being ridiculous. Remember at Percy’s wedding? You thought George saw us in the bathroom. And at Christmas that year? You swore that Hermione was hinting that she knew about us. You worry for nothing.”

Lily felt her heart beating in her throat. What were they talking about?

“I don’t, didn’t you see how Hugo talked to me? Don’t you see how they look at us?” She let out a frustrated cry. “The door is broken Ron! What if one of them… what if…”

“They are just teenagers, Ginny, and there’s a charm on the door, it recognises our blood, only we can get in,” he told her, his voice low and calm. Well, that charm didn’t work too well, because Lily was there, books in her hands and ears strained to listen to their conversation.

“What if they just know?”

Uncle Ron took a deep breath. “Merlin, Ginny, you’re always getting all worked up for nothing. Come here.”

“This is not nothing.” Her mother’s voice was filled with anguish and Lily wanted to walk out and let her know that it was nothing, that whatever they were talking about she and Hugo were not onto them.

“Come here,” repeated Uncle Ron. “Here.”

Her mother took a deep breath and finally Lily could hear her steps bringing her closer to Uncle Ron.

Then she had to hold her breath, because the sounds were now much softer and… and that seemed like a slurping and sucking sound and some little moans and panting…

Lily stood up from the floor. The sun was setting behind the sea and the light was becoming less and less intense. Her eyes were vaguely blurred too.

She didn’t understand. She didn’t want to understand.

She took some noiseless steps towards the door that led back to the room and her breath caught in her throat.

She had to grasp her books in one arm and bring the other hand to her mouth to cover it, because otherwise she would have made all sorts of noises and she didn’t want that.

Her mother was sitting on Uncle Ron’s lap. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and she was kissing him and he was kissing her. He kissed her like he kissed Aunt Hermione and she kissed him back like she kissed Dad.

Lily wanted to jump out of the study and scream at them to stop. What were they doing. What was wrong with them.

But she couldn’t. She just stood there, looking at them kissing. And then, looking at them as Uncle Ron’s hands worked her mother’s dress up her thighs.

“Ron, no,” murmured her mother, tilting her head back, “let’s go and check on Lily and Hugo.”

“Later,” he growled, trailing kissing all over her jaw and neck. “First I want you.”

Her mother tried to push on Uncle Ron’s chest, but he just gathered her dress high on her hip and Lily saw one of his big hands disappearing between her legs.

The moan that left her mother’s lips was sinful and Lily felt her stomach in knots and found her eyes unable to look away.

“You’re wet,” growled Uncle Ron, “are you wet for me?”

When her mother didn’t reply, Uncle Ron slapped her between her legs.

She let out a cry and tried to close her thighs around his hand, but Uncle Ron was bigger than her, and it didn’t really matter how much Quidditch her mother had done in her life, he was stronger and he pushed his hand deeper under her dress before shoving her off of him.

“Get naked.” Lily had never heard his uncle sound so rough. His voice was low and throaty, and even though she couldn’t see them, she was sure that his eyes were clouded with lust.

“Ron, we don’t—”

“Get naked, Ginny,” he snapped.

Her mother took a deep breath, as if she was dealing with a stubborn child. But then her hands went to the buttons of her dress and she started to undo them slowly.

The scene was surreal. Lily would have felt sick if those were her mother and her father going at it. But this… this was indescribable. She couldn’t almost feel sick, she couldn’t almost feel her stomach at all. She felt as if she had been cast under a Full Body-Bind Curse. She was pressing her hand on her mouth, she wasn’t sure she was breathing, she wasn’t sure she could ever close her eyes.

Her mother shrugged off the dress and smiled at Uncle Ron. She walked until she was standing between his legs and she squirmed and giggled like Lily had never heard her doing before when he pulled down her bra and took a nipple into his mouth.

“Ron…” she groaned, her long, pale fingers caressed Uncle Ron’s hair. Her wedding band shone in the last rays of the sun.

Then she let out a little cry as Uncle Ron grabbed her wrist and pushed her on the bed. He stood up and looked down at her mother without uttering a word. She smiled up at him and tried to roll over on the bed.

“Don’t move,” he growled at her. He was quick to discard his clothes, or maybe it was because Lily’s eyes were trained on her mother and she wasn’t paying attention to him. Her mother looked so pliant and submissive, and Lily couldn’t remember a time where she had ever taken orders like that. Not even from Grandma Molly.

And now, she would just do anything Uncle Ron told her to do. He barked at her to lose the bra and the knickers and to spread that pretty little arse with her hands. And she did. He told her to keep her head into the pillow. And she did.

He told her to beg.

And she did.

Uncle Ron’s cock was big and red and Lily’s mouth was dry when he knelt behind her mother and grabbed her hip with one hand while he lined himself up with the other.

He didn’t push inside. He bent over her mother and growled, “Tell me what you want.”

“Ron…” she whined.

“Tell me.”

“You,” she moaned, trying to buck back towards him, “you, please, Ron… just… just fuck me…”

“Such a good girl,” he growled, and even though she couldn’t see it from where she was standing, Lily knew when he finally pushed into her mother because she let out a keening cry and he grunted loudly.

From the door, she could see her mother’s hand grasping the covers, tearing at them, trying to find something to hold on to probably. She was panting every time he thrust into her, her breathing getting more and more ragged.

Lily bit down hard on her bottom lip as she followed the arch of Uncle Ron’s back jerking forward every time he pushed into her mother from behind and relaxing when he withdrew. He was panting hard, and the sound must have been deafening in her mother’s ears. He pushed his face against hers, growling like an animal.

She imagined his hand must have tangled in her hair, because her mother’s head was pulled back all of a sudden and Lily could see the white curve of her throat as she tried to gulp down air.

Then Uncle Ron kissed her. He kissed her like Lily had never seen anybody kissing. And then there was a string of strained words that in the silence of the room bounced on the walls as if he had cast a Sonorous on himself.

“You’re mine… every inch of you is mine… Always, always mine… Forever and ever. Do you understand me? Forever and ever.”

He straightened his back and pounded into her, keeping up a punishing pace until her mother’s firm arse was wobbling with every thrust and she cried out once more.

Then his mouth was once again near her ear.

“Does Harry fuck you like this? Does he? Does your husband fuck you like this? Answer me, dammit, Ginny…”

Her mother opened her mouth, but all she could do was whimper and whimper and whimper, until in the dim light of the bedroom Lily saw her eyelids drop and her muscles jolt under her fair skin.

Uncle Ron didn’t stop, he rode her from behind through her orgasm, all his body pressed tightly against hers. She imagined her mother couldn’t breathe, what with Uncle Ron being almost twice as tall as she was and pushing her brutally into the mattress. She imagined her mother didn’t care.

Uncle Ron pushed on his knees to drive faster into her. And then faster and faster, until the frame of the four poster bed was trembling and her mother was moaning again.

And then he gave a vicious shove and her mother’s eyes flew open as he bit down on her shoulder. And he was coming, Lily could see it in his trembling arms, and in the way his hips jolted forward to make her mother’s arse cheeks bounce, and in the way his own back arched, and then just stopped moving.

He collapsed on top of her, probably unable to do anything else. Her mother moaned again, her freckled hand going to the back of his head to push him closer. Lily couldn’t imagine how they could get any closer than this.

He was still buried inside of her, and she was still pressed against the mattress when he kissed her. Hard and loud, sucking and swirling his tongue inside her mouth.

It took Lily all her strength to will her heart to beat a bit slower to finally make out the words that Uncle Ron was whispering.

“I love you,” he groaned urgently, “I love you, Ginny… my love… my darling… so beautiful… so fucking beautiful… mine… all mine…”

Her mother whispered something back, but Lily didn’t catch it. Instead, she stepped back and slid into the study. She found the darkest corner and sat on the floor as silently as she could. She drew her knees to her chest and waited.

***

She didn’t look at her mother or at her uncle or at Hugo when she walked back into her room. She dumped her books onto her bed and grabbed a towel and closed herself into the bathroom.

She could hear her mother asking her how she’d gotten the books, what was wrong, why was she behaving like that. She didn’t reply. She turned on the water and screamed into her towel.

***

Lily shivered when her mother’s hand brushed against her forehead. She didn’t want her to touch her. She didn’t want that treacherous palm that had rested all night on Uncle Ron’s naked body to stroke her.

“Darling, you are burning,” murmured her mother worriedly. “Do you want me to stay with you today? I can move the interview to tomorrow.”

Lily shook her head, clutching the paper of the Fever Fudge in her hand under the covers. “No,” she replied feebly, “I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? I’ll send Uncle Ron to check on—”

“I’ll stay with her, Auntie.” Lily looked at Hugo from behind her drooping eyelashes. He smiled reassuringly and added, “I’ll bring her chicken soup and take care of her.”

Her mother looked at him, but somehow she didn’t seem reassured in the slightest. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go with your dad to the lake or the Stone Circle? I can stay here…”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Auntie.” He smiled just like Uncle Ron smiled when he had some mischief on his mind, and her mother must have noticed because she swallowed and looked away.

“Maybe we should call a Healer…”

Lily shook her aching head. She just wanted her mother and Uncle Ron and Hugo and the whole world to leave her alone. She just couldn’t stand anybody, especially not the ones standing there. “Just go, please,” she whined, “I want to sleep.”

Her mother took a deep breath. “Alright, Lils,” she murmured gently. She bent over to kiss her with the same mouth with which she kissed her own brother the night before. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

She nodded and stared as her mother stood from the bed and told Hugo to call a Healer if she got worse.

It was only after a thousand other recommendations that she finally left, smiling at Lily as she closed the door at her back, and finally walked out of the room to join Uncle Ron and Mr Finnigan and Mr Thomas on some trip.

Lily drew the covers up to her nose and turned away from Hugo. She didn’t want to talk to him, she didn’t want to look at him, she didn’t want to do anything at all except sleep until it was time to eat another—

“Hugo!” she tried to screech the name through her teeth, but it was nothing more than a whisper for the fever was too high and she felt too weak.

He pushed the covers away from her body and tore the wrapping of the sweet out of her hand and chuckled. “I knew it,” he murmured placidly.

She drew the covers back up and gritted her teeth. “Shut up,” she growled.

When he spoke again, his voice was close to her ear. “What did you see?” he asked softly. “What happened?”

She turned to look into his eyes, only a few inches from her own. “Nothing,” she murmured. “Nothing.”

He was unexpectedly gentle when he kissed her forehead and moved her matted hair from her face.

***

Lily was torn between eating another sweet or letting the fever recede. Hugo was good at nursing her, he spooned the soup into her mouth and let her sleep when she felt too weak. He didn’t try to talk to her for the rest of the day. He sat on his bed and read an issue of the Quibbler that he had produced from his suitcase from top to bottom. And then from bottom to top, just because it was the Quibbler and he didn’t have anything better to do.

Lily drifted in and out of consciousness for the whole morning and most part of the afternoon. She pretended to be sleeping when her mother and Uncle Ron came to check on her. She heard her mother praising Hugo and thanking him for staying with her. She heard Hugo retort something that was not nice and her mother’s voice was almost choked when she asked him what was wrong with him, before fleeing the room.

Lily couldn’t feel sorry for her.

Uncle Ron barked at Hugo to go and apologise. He just looked defiantly at him, until Uncle Ron left too, the door slamming at his back.

Lily pushed her nose into the covers, and for the first time since the night before, she allowed herself to go back to those interminable minutes when she was staring, unable to tear her eyes, to her mother and Uncle Ron having sex.

_Mum and her brother._

The pale line of Uncle Ron’s back arched over her mother, the moans that left her lips as he pushed into her, the way he tugged her hair to kiss her…

It felt like a dream. It felt wrong and sick.

She felt nauseous. She felt as if she would never be able to look at her mother or Uncle Ron the way she did before. She felt as if all her life had been a lie. For a fleeting second she wondered who her father was. After all James and Albus looked a lot like Dad, but she… she was the spitting image of her mother. What if… She felt sick at the very thought that she might have been the product of incest. That maybe something was wrong with her. Deep inside.

She grasped her pillow under her head and gritted her teeth. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry and to tell the world what her mother and her uncle did. She wanted to talk to someone. She wanted someone to tell her that she was not crazy.

But she would rather drown herself in the swimming pool than let someone know what she had witnessed. She wanted Grandma Molly to hug her and rock her, but the thought that her grandmother’s arms had been around her mother made her shiver.

She imagined herself telling her father what she had seen. In her head he looked horrified at his wife and his brother in law. In her mind he took Lily and Albus and James and brought them away from her. In her head her mother was crying and Lily couldn’t feel anything for her.

But in reality, her father would have laughed at her, and if she insisted he would have brought her to St Mungo’s to have her mental health evaluated.

Nobody was going to believe her. Nobody. But she wasn’t crazy. She had seen the whole scene with her own two eyes. She had heard them. And nobody would ever—

Lily’s eyes flew open. She swallowed and found that her throat didn’t hurt her anymore, but her mouth was still dry. She rolled over in her bed.

Hugo was still sitting on his blankets, trying to read the Quibbler upside down, now, to look at Merlin knew what. She pushed her covers away and didn’t shiver. The fever must have already disappeared.

She sat up, the covers bunched in her lap, and rubbed her eyes.

“Why, hello Sleeping Beauty.”

She turned her head to look at him and opened her mouth to reply something, but no sound issued forth, instead she made a pathetic little cough.

“Water?” asked Hugo.

She nodded, and tried to look for a glass, but he was already walking towards her with a small bottle in his hands. She took it and drank avidly. Her parched lips healed instantaneously with the fresh liquid.

She cleared her throat and looked at Hugo. He stretched a hand over the covers to take the bottle back and she let him cap it for her.

She licked her lips and stared seriously at him. “What did you see?” she croaked out.

He placed the bottle on her bedside table and turned a bit to look at her, shifting on her bed until her feet slid near his bum. “When?” he asked flatly.

“You know when.”

“Nope.” He looked out of the window. “When? That time that we were at the pond and your bikini got a bit loose? I didn’t see anything, I swear.”

“Hugo,” she growled his name through her teeth.

“Lily.” His voice was calm, almost amused, he turned and flashed her an annoying smile.

She gritted her teeth. “The other day, when we came back from Eyeries and I lost the ring and you went to tell your dad and my mum that we were back. What did you see?”

He grinned at her. “Oh that. I almost forgot.” He pressed his lips together, his blue eyes becoming serious all of a sudden, he leant a bit closer to her. “What did _you_ see?” he whispered.

She swallowed. “I’ll tell you if tell me.”

“Why don’t you guess?”

She worried her bottom lip between her teeth and took a deep breath. She didn’t look away as she started to talk. “You saw them kiss,” she whispered, her voice flat and emotionless. “You saw them touch each other.”

There were no emotions on Hugo’s face, but his eyes roamed her face almost frenetically, as if to spot whatever kind of feelings were seeping through her features.

Finally, he smirked. “Very good.” He licked his lips. “My turn now.” He brought his face closer to her, until she could feel his hand dip on the mattress near her hip and his lips near her ear. When he whispered, his warm breath made her shiver, “You saw them fuck.”

She finally felt the tears stung her eyes. She didn’t reply, she just wrapped her arms around his neck and let him hug her tight to his chest. She dragged him down, half on top of her and half on the bed. He let her wet his neck without complaining until she fell asleep.

***

When she opened her eyes, Hugo was looking at her face and playing with her hair. He was lying over the covers, his face mere inches from hers. She could see the freckles on his nose, and they looked gigantic at that distance.

“Aren’t you tired of sleeping?” he asked with an amused grin.

She refused to acknowledge his happy expression and his question. “What do we do?” she asked instead, her voice a bit croaky.

“We can do anything you want to do.”

She shook her head. “About… about my mum and your dad.”

“Oh that.” He tucked a lock of red hair behind her ear and smiled. “We can do anything you want to do,” he repeated.

“Hugo.” She sighed his name with a tone of slight irritation. It was as if he never wanted to talk to her about serious things. Just like Uncle Ron.

He leant in closer to her and kissed her forehead. She was cold now, almost colder than usual after the fever. “You look so much like your mother,” he whispered against her freckled skin. “Especially when you get annoyed with me.” He kissed her temple and then her eyelid.

“I’m not annoyed.”

He kissed her cheek. His lips were soft and slightly damp against her skin. He stopped shy of her mouth, and she had to turn her head to finally kiss him back. He smiled against her lips and she tilted her head back, almost disappointed at his reaction.

He followed her and pressed his forehead against hers. “Is this what you want to do about your mum and my dad?” he asked her softly.

She tried to move back from him, but his arms closed around her shoulders and he pulled her to him. He rolled her until she was lying on her back and he was pressed half on top of her.

“Is it revenge?” he murmured to her. “To get back at them. To make them pay for what they did. To hurt them.”

“Yes,” she gritted out, suddenly feeling that that was what she needed to make herself feel better. She stretched her neck to kiss him, but he moved away. He pushed his hands near her face and stood from her bed.

“Hugo,” she called him feebly, ashamed and terrified that she had asked for something that he didn’t want. How had her mother and Uncle Ron begun their relationship? Were they both willing when they’d started? Or had one of them pushed the other?

“Are you coming down for dinner?” he asked flatly. He pulled his tee-shirt over his head and looked at her as he grabbed a clean shirt. “Or shall I send your mother here to feed you?”

She lowered her eyes and pushed back the covers. “I’m coming,” she muttered.

***

Her mother had eyes just for her at dinner. She wouldn’t look at Hugo and would avoid Uncle Ron’s eyes. She would brush her hand against her forehead every few minutes and tell her how happy she was that she had recovered. Then she would tell her about their day.

But every time she mentioned that she and Uncle Ron had gone to swim in the lake, all Lily could think about was the water sloshing around them as they fucked; and when she told her about the interview, all she could see was Uncle Ron wanking in the bedroom as he waited for her.

“Why don’t we spend some time together, tomorrow,” her mother proposed, and even if she was smiling there was a hint of uneasiness in her voice.

Lily pushed her spoon around in her soup. “I want to go to the Kenmare Stone Circle tomorrow.”

“But darling, you’ve been sick and the Stone Circle is not—”

“I want to.” She raised her eyes and looked firmly at her mother. The way her mother used to look at her when she had done something wrong. Her mother looked back at her the way Lily did when she knew she had done something wrong.

“Well then,” smiled Uncle Ron reassuringly, “we shall all go together. We told you we want to—”

“I want to go with Hugo.”

The table was enveloped by an uneasy silence. Lily looked up to meet Hugo’s eyes and he looked back at her without betraying any emotion.

“Yes,” said Uncle Ron, his voice slightly on edge, “Hugo will come as well, we certainly can’t leave him behind, he’s already been locked up all day in the room. I’m surprised he hasn’t gone crazy yet.”

Lily gave him a tight-lipped smile. “Maybe he has, Uncle Ron,” she replied. “Maybe everybody is a bit crazy in our family.”

Uncle Ron frowned slightly at her. “Maybe you still have a temperature, Lily,” he murmured unsurely.

She shook her head and let out a giggle. Her mother was pale when she glanced at her. Hugo raised his glass and winked at her.

***

The guide was boring, Kenmare Stone Circle was dull and the morning was dreary.

Lily didn’t care.

She and Hugo had snuck out of the inn before her mother and his father had even come downstairs for breakfast. And now they were standing one next to the other, staring at the dull stones and with the dark sky threatening to dump bucketfuls of water on them.

“…it is locally known as 'The Shruberries', and it’s composed of 15 heavy boulders: 13 standing and two prostrate at the north. At the centre is an impressive…”

“Let’s get out of here.”

Lily followed Hugo meekly out of the group of Wizards who were listening to the explanation. The walk to the Kenmare Stone Circle had been a disappointment, for it had taken them less than five minutes from the village, and for a moment Lily was afraid that he would lead her back to downtown Kenmare and closer to the inn.

Instead he headed for the pines that skirted that place, and walked past them towards the green hills and plains that continued as far as the eye could see. They strode through the countryside for minutes and then hours, without uttering a word.

The sky rumbled with a far away thunder that brought more promises of rain.

“Hugo…”

He turned to look at her and smiled. “There’s a town not too far away, I swear I saw it on the map.”

There wasn’t. There were farms and an inn every now and then, but they didn’t stop in any of them.

“Hugo.”

He took a deep breath. “Next inn, we’re going to stop,” he promised her.

But he didn’t.

It was only when Lily’s stomach was rumbling as loudly as the sky above their heads that she grasped his wrist and tried to make him stop. “Hugo,” she complained, “let’s go back. It’s late, I’m hungry, and it’s going to rain.”

He wriggled free. “Go back if you want.” His voice was sharp and bitter and he didn’t even look at her as he resumed his walking.

Lily’s heart skipped a beat. “What? No, no.” She hurried after him, grabbing his wrist again, this time with both hands. “I’m not going back without you. Come on, let’s go back into town.”

“I told you to go.” He twisted his wrist, but this time she didn’t let him go. He glared at her and started to peel her fingers from his arm. “Are you scared?”

“I… I…”

“Why should I care if you’re scared?”

She swallowed loudly. “I’m not scared,” she protested. “I just don’t want you to wander off and do something stupid. Let’s go back.”

“Why do you care about me?”

She startled at his words. What was he talking about? Hadn’t she had enough craziness that week for the rest of her life? “Hugo. I just do.”

He laughed at her as he finally wiggled free of her grasp. “Yeah, right, like yesterday.” He shook his head and snorted.

Lily’s pale eyebrows knitted together on her forehead. “Yesterday?” she murmured. Her eyes travelled around them, they were standing under a fir, and the stormy sea could be heard in the distance. When it started raining, they were going to get soaked in a matter of minutes. “Yesterday,” she repeated, massaging a temple to try to tame a headache that was about to kick in, “you were the one who walked away.” She gritted her teeth, feeling utterly annoyed. “I was about to kiss you and you just stood up and started talking about dinner as if nothing had happened.”

He laughed again, a nasty chuckle. “You were going to kiss me,” he repeated scornfully. “You were going to kiss me and then? Did you want me to do to you what my dad does to your mum?”

“Yes,” she repeated, her cheeks burning in shame for what she was asking. “I thought you wanted that too.”

He looked at her with his eyes narrowed. “Revenge,” he hissed. “That’s what you want.”

She nodded forcefully. “Yes,” she snapped. “That’s what you want too.”

He parted his lips to reply, but his teeth were gritted and he seemed to want to consider carefully what to say to her before he did. But finally, when he spoke, Lily’s heart skipped a beat. “I don’t want revenge,” he spat. “I want you. I’ve always wanted you.”

Lily’s world started to spin at that admission. She stared at Hugo’s flushed and angry face through her eyelashes and felt her heart stop beating altogether. She silently hoped for the earth to open and swallow her, she would have accepted her death gladly at that moment. Not have to deal with any of this, not have to face anybody anymore.

Instead there was a bolt lightening, and then thunder, then finally rain.

They didn’t move. The closest inn was far behind them and they would have gotten soaked no matter what.

She stared at Hugo and he stared back at her, before taking a deep breath and shaking his head. He pulled his jacket from his shoulders and put it over his head, before going to cover Lily with it. “Here,” he almost had to shout to make his voice heard over the rain. “Or you’re going to get sick for real.”

She looked up at him before leaning her head on his chest and sneaking a hand around his waist to cling to him. She felt his muscles stiffen under her touch and wondered if he’d always reacted that way to her and she’d never noticed. As if she’d only now been made aware, with his confession, of his body language.

He did smile at her so much more often than he did smile to Roxy or Lucy or Dom, and he had pressed her against the wall of the swimming pool and tucked her wet hair behind her ear, and he had looked after her for the whole day even though he knew that the fever was fake. And the way he was looking at her the moment she had opened her eyes the afternoon before, and the way he kissed her… tenderly and softly as if he was afraid to hurt her.

She wasn’t even looking where they were going. Hugo’s jacket was hanging in front of her face and all she could do was follow his steps one at a time and look at his feet as they advanced under the pouring rain.

“I think we’re lost,” muttered Hugo, and luckily under the jacket she could hear him much more clearly.

“Hugo,” she sighed.

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Lily.” He looked down at her, regret on his face. “I can’t see anything with this rain.”

“Let’s… let’s just find a shelter or something.”

It wasn’t easy. But they just had to walk, surely they couldn’t stay in the same place. Not with the water starting to leak through the jacket and into Lily’s hair and with the constant lightening that kept falling frighteningly close to them.

“There’s a farm,” Hugo finally exclaimed. “But it looks shut,” he added dejectedly.

“Let’s go anyway.” She dug her fingers into his waist and they walked a bit faster.

The farm was closed and when they knocked nobody replied, but there was a little hut with the door slightly ajar and Hugo dragged her inside without even asking her if she thought they should.

Yes, they were probably trespassing on private property, but she had already stolen a ring and witnessed two siblings shagging that week, and suddenly Lily’s concepts of right and wrong had become rather mixed up.

He pulled off the jacket and shook it in a corner, water falling in big drops on the floor. The hut was small and filled with garden tools and the concrete floor had grass scattered all over it, but it was at least dry and had a small window through which they could check the rain.

Hugo hung his jacket on a rake and turned. “Lily, I—oh Merlin! I’m so sorry!”

She stared without understanding as he made his way to her and hugged her tightly, his hands rubbing her upper arms with force. “What—”

“Your lips are all blue,” he whispered to her. “I’m so sorry. I’m… I just…”

She took a deep breath and leant her head against his chest. “It’s alright,” she assured him.

“No, it’s not.” He suddenly let her go and shook his head. “It’s not. This holiday just sucks. We…” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “We’re never going back to being friends after today, are we?”

Lily bit her bottom lip. Was that what he was worried about? After all they had come to know in these past few days? “Hugo—”

“No. I’m sorry, Lily. I… I should have never—”

“Shut up, Hugo,” she finally said. Her voice was so forceful that he opened his eyes and looked at her through his eyelashes.

“Excuse me?”

“I said shut up,” she repeated, folding her arms across her chest. “You just found out that your father is bedding his own sister, and all you’re worried about is if we’ll be friends after today.”

He lowered his eyes and shrugged a shoulder. “I… I just care about you…”

She swallowed and took a step towards him. “I don’t think we should be friends after today.” She whispered the words, but to her they sounded loud and clear as if she had screamed them.

Hugo closed his eyes again and shook his head. “I… I just…”

“I want you too.”

When he looked at her he looked scared and diffident, like a rabbit on a trafficked street. “I don’t need your pity,” he told her bitterly.

She took another step, and then another until she was standing so close her eyes could make out the little cracks in the writing of his tee-shirt. “It’s not pity.”

“You don’t like me that way.” She knew from his tone that he was getting defensive, scared probably that she was toying with him.

“How do you even know?” she gritted through her teeth. But he was right. Oh Merlin, he was right! She didn’t like him that way, but she needed him. She needed him to do to her what Uncle Ron did to her mother.

She needed to understand.

She needed to know.

She would burn in hell for that, but she needed it.

He shook his head. “You just want to feel better. You just want to go back to the inn with your head held high and the knowledge that you’ve done something as sick as your mother.”

She raised her eyes on him and shook her head. “If I wanted to do something as sick as my mother, I would’ve enlisted James’ or Al’s help,” she reminded him. “This is not sick.”

“You’re my cousin. Close enough.”

She closed her eyes and wrapped her hands around his torso. “My mum always says that she fell in love with my dad when she was ten and saw him at the station,” she confessed. “She always says that she’s never loved anybody else.”

He didn’t hug her back. “So?” he asked flatly.

“I’ve always wanted to be like her,” she continued, “play Quidditch for the Harpies, master a Bat-Bogey Hex, fall in love when I was little with my future husband.”

He didn’t say anything and she could barely feel him breathe against her head.

She leant her chin on his chest and looked up at him. “But now, the very thought of being like her makes me sick. I… I don’t want to be like her anymore.”

He stared down at her with an eyebrow quirked. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked her a bit breathlessly.

“I look like her, you said that, and you look like him. If my feelings weren’t sincere I would shiver at the very thought of being close to you,” she whispered. “If I didn’t know that we are we and they are they, and that this isn’t revenge but just—”

Apparently it was enough, she didn’t need to keep lying to him, because Hugo lowered his head and shut her up with a kiss. It was not as gentle as he had been the day before. It was not as caring and soft and worried. It was raw and urgent and Lily felt her heartbeat increase and something tighten in her stomach.

Probably she wasn’t going to hell because she’d lied to Hugo. Probably she did love him and want him as much as he wanted her.

He let her lips go and cupped her cheeks. He was panting and so was she when he pushed his forehead against hers. “I love you,” he murmured softly.

She opened her mouth to reply, but he didn’t let her utter a word. He turned them around and pushed her roughly against the wall. He kissed her again. And then again and again, until she felt as if she didn’t have any more air in her lungs. She grasped his wrists to let him know that she needed to breathe, and he let her go.

She almost didn’t understand what he was doing when he started to fumble with his shorts. Her eyes widened as he lowered them around his thighs, his hands fishing out his erection. It bobbed upwards the moment he freed it from his underwear, and it rose against his lower abdomen. His tip was already bared and ready, and there was a bead of pre-cum gathered on it. She wetted her lips and when she raised her eyes again on his face he was looking at her almost pleadingly. His blue irises hooded with lust.

She started to unzip her jeans as well, but as she struggled to push them over her hips, he grasped her waist and made her turn, pushing her chest against the wall.

She could feel his warm hands dragging her jeans and her knickers over the curve of her arse and then she was pushed up on tiptoes as he grasped her hipbone in his hand and guided his cock with the other.

She tried to find something to hold on to the wall, but the surface was as smooth as the floor. She tried to open her legs, but Hugo had left her jeans hanging around her knees.

He bumped the head of his cock against her clit and she let out a groan. But she was drenched already and before she could even understand what was going on, he pushed inside of her, and as he did Lily could hear his ragged breath next to her ear. She scrambled her hands on the wall, letting out a soft whine as his lower abdomen leant against her arse. His arm wrapped under her breasts, pushing the old tee-shirt that was once Rose’s against her scorching skin.

She surely wasn’t blue-lipped anymore.

And then he moved. Slow at first, savouring every moment and every inch of her probably, and she did the same. Her eyelids drooped and it didn’t matter anymore if she couldn’t find leverage on the wall, because Hugo was keeping her up, her feet almost leaving the floor with every shove.

It was almost embarrassing for Lily to feel the heat pool in her stomach so quickly. But suddenly Hugo’s thrusts came with a faster pace, and the slaps of skin against skin, which had the same sound as Uncle Ron’s slaps against her mother, became louder than the rain.

When he came, he groaned in her ear and bit down on her shoulder, stilling his movements and going almost stiff. Lily just cried out, unable to find somewhere to smother her moan.

He kissed her neck and her hair and her cheek.

When he slid out of her she let him guide her to the floor.

And they caught their breath and waited for the rain to stop.

***

“Where were you? Look at you! You’re soaked to the skin! I thought you were going to see those damn rocks and then come back! What’s wrong with you two?”

Her mother was crying and screaming, uncaring of all the people who might have walked past their room. Her pale face and wet eyes let Lily know that she had really worried.

“We were about to call the Aurors!” she cried. “Call Dad, Lily! What do you think he’d have done?” She shook her head frantically. “Oh, but you don’t care, do you? You’re just two children!”

“I’m sorry,” Lily muttered, without looking at her.

Her mother took a deep breath. “You are,” she snapped. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been impossible, both of you, for the whole week… and now… and now this…”

Lily replied, “Nothing,” when she really wanted to say, _Oh, I just saw you fucking your own brother, Mother, and I don’t feel like talking to you for the rest of my life._

***

Hugo’s thumbs pressed against her lower abdomen as he guided her down. His cock already pushing slightly inside of her. She was wet and oh so ready for him.

They both let out a groan as she pushed down. Slowly and gently, easing inch after inch inside of her.

“God, you’re tight,” whispered Hugo, “and warm and wet.”

She looked down at him, a small smile stretching her lips as she placed her hands on his chest. He was smooth and hard under her digits, she wondered if Uncle Ron felt like that under her mother at that very moment.

She dipped her head until she was only inches from his mouth. “You feel good too,” she replied. She kissed him then and he answered her with soaring urgency.

His hand traced the line of her spine until he was cupping her arse. He hoisted her up a little and pushed her back down, and she let his lips go and gasped against his cheek.

He chuckled at her surprise, and she rolled her hips in retaliation, making him groan and throw his head back against the pillow. She did it again and stared at his forehead creasing more and more, and his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed.

When he opened his eyes, she smiled softly at him. He smiled back, before wrapping his arms around her and pushing her to him.

She let him drive into her until he pulsed deep inside of her and she had to bite down on his neck to stifle her screams.

***

“How do you think it started?”

The soft light of the morning was filtering through the windows. The match wasn’t for another five hours, but since they were part of Ginny Potter’s party they had to be at the stadium at least one hour earlier, to climb up to the press-reserved stands.

Hugo’s fingers brushed against her hipbone. She shifted under the covers and leant her chin on his chest, looking up at him.

He flashed her a smile. “How do all siblings start shagging each other?” he asked back.

Lily’s lips pressed together. “Hugo…”

He leant back against the pillow, bringing a hand to rub his eyes. “I don’t know, Lily,” he replied. “Does it matter?”

It mattered to her. She lowered her eyes and bit her bottom lip, until Hugo cupped her cheek and made her look up at him again. “Probably it was one of those moments during the war,” he whispered, “or after Uncle Fred died and they spent some time alone at the Burrow. Or… I don’t know… maybe they just have a thing for redheads.”

She closed her eyes as he brushed his thumb against her cheek. His hands were soft, the little calluses from the inordinately amount of Quidditch training she had submitted him to during their past year at Hogwarts had completely disappeared.

“What do _you_ think?” he whispered gently.

She took a deep breath. “Maybe they’ve always loved each other,” she murmured, “and their love just never died out, and they had to go off and marry other people for the sake of appearances, but they would always try to get together when they could…”

He smiled down at her, before guiding her up towards him and kissing her gently. She leant her hand on his chest and let her hair drape over their faces. Their kisses grew more frantic before becoming as gentle and as soft as little pecks. She withdrew and tilted her face on her hand, looking down at him. Her breast pushing against his arm.

“When did you start feeling something for me?”

He blushed faintly, but Lily was too close to him not to notice. “I’ve always felt something for you,” he mumbled in reply. “I don’t remember ever thinking about another girl but you.”

“What about Claire and Hannah?” she asked, and found her voice seeping out jealousy. Was that what her mother felt when Uncle Ron had started dating Aunt Hermione?

“What about them?” he asked back. 

“You went out with them.”

He grinned at her and for a moment she just wanted to swat him. “Are you jealous?”

She rolled her eyes and tried to stand, but he pulled her back to him and she could feel his chest trembling with laughter under her cheek.

“Keeping up appearances,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head. “I knew I couldn’t tell you how I felt, and I was scared that one day you would turn and find me staring at you and would read my darkest secret inside my eyes. I had to make you believe I was a normal teenager with healthy interests towards the fair sex, and not towards my own cousin…”

“What made you change your mind?” she whispered so softly she hoped he understood her words. “Was it _them_?”

He squeezed her a little bit tighter. “Them and… you. At first I thought you felt something for me, but when you admitted that it was just revenge…”

“I’m sorry,” she replied without even thinking. “I love you.”

He sighed and let her go. She looked up at him and he looked away. “I know you don’t love me like I do,” he mumbled, “but right now I don’t care. I’m still too elated to care.”

She pressed her thigh gently against his groin. “Elated for the mind-blowing sex?” she whispered with a naughty grin.

He pressed back against her, but shook his head. “Elated to be able to hold you like this.”

Lily sucked in her breath. Somehow his words went straight to her heart, and for a moment she felt a warmth inside that was different from the excitement of having Hugo between her legs and his mouth around her nipple.

He looked at her and smiled, and for the first time his smile held no cockiness, only genuine love and adoration.

She slid her leg over his torso and pushed back the covers to sit up on his lower abdomen. She could feel his erection poking against her arse cheek. “If I say that I love you, you better believe me,” she told him seriously. She ran her hands over his chest, and when he tried to close his fingers around her waist she grasped his wrists and pushed them down on either side of his face. “Do you understand me?”

One corner of his mouth raised in a half-smile. “Perfectly, Captain.”

She lowered her face and kissed him, biting his lip jokingly. She could feel his hands trying to twitch out of her grasp to touch her. “Good.” She let him go. “Now fuck me like you know you want to.”

***

The stand reserved for the press wasn’t any nicer than the other stands, the view was slightly better though.

Her mother had four of the best seats, and the fact that she worked for the most important newspaper in Magical Britain might have been the cause of that.

The match was incredibly uneventful. The Golden Snitch hid for most of the time, and when it finally appeared Benjy Williams, the Puddlemere Seeker, did everything in his power to prevent River O’Malley, his adversary, from grabbing it, because at that moment, Puddlemere was losing spectacularly at 150 to 320. 

“I said that Oliver was getting it all wrong,” muttered her mother softly. She glanced at Lily and tried to smile at her.

It was the first time that during a match her mother hadn’t shouted at least once against the players or mumbled how incompetent they were. Au contraire, she had sat there, twisting her hands most of the time and having to charm the Quick-Quotes Quill twice before it worked properly.

“Yes, you said it,” said Uncle Ron, wrapping an arm about her mother and pulling her to him. “My little sister is like a Quidditch Seer.” He kissed her on the top of her head, but let her go hastily when he noticed that both Lily and Hugo were staring at them coldly. He tried to mumble something that they couldn’t quite catch, and when neither Lily nor Hugo uttered a word in reply he let out a nervous laugh, and both himself and her mother focused on the game for the rest of the time.

***

Her mother introduced her to a moody Oliver Wood after the match. She grasped her shoulders as if she was afraid that she would run away and never come back. She praised her in front of Mr Wood and his teammates. Told them that she was a Quidditch prodigy, that she wanted to play for the Harpies, that she was already Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and she had just only finished her fifth year.

And Hugo too! She pushed him in front of Mr Wood and ruffled his hair affectionately. He was wicked on a broom, a great Keeper, and he was a Prefect.

She laughed a bit nervously when Mr Wood looked from Lily to Hugo and sentenced that even if he really didn’t remember Ginny or Ron back at Hogwarts, they did look a bit like them.

“We do, don’t we?” asked Hugo. He smiled at Lily and added, “In so many ways, you have no idea, Mr Wood.”

Lily smiled back at him, and when her mother’s fingers squeezed her shoulder, Lily just knew that she knew.

***

“I don’t ever want to get out of this bed,” mumbled Hugo against her neck.

“We’re leaving tomorrow,” she replied matter-of-factly, stifling a giggle as his warm breath washed over her neck. “And this bed is too small, my back is all cramped.”

He groaned, his hands sneaked around her waist and he pushed her against him. “I mean that I don’t want to get out any bed as long as you’re in it,” he replied. “I don’t want to wait until the first day of school to see you.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Then don’t,” she replied softly. “I don’t want to stay home alone with my mother while everybody else is working.”

“What do you suggest?” he asked, tilting his head back. “My pocket money isn’t enough for a week at the Leaky Cauldron for two.”

She grinned. “Very chivalrous of you to offer to pay for me.” She pecked him on his cheek. “But I was thinking about the Burrow.” She nuzzled at his jaw. “It’s big, the beds are comfortable and Grandma Molly and Granddad Arthur are too deaf to hear anything.”

He pounced unexpectedly on her, making her roll over and pushing her into the mattress. “You’re wicked,” he whispered inches from her lips.

“You like it?”

“I love it.”

When he pushed into her he was fast and almost brutal, as if he wanted to be quick just to have time to start over before they fell asleep and then had to wake to leave.

Or so he had said the first three times.

***

“All set?”

“Yes.”

“The Portkey will activate in two hours in the backyard of the inn,” explained Uncle Ron. “We’ve time to eat something before we leave and I don’t know if you want to—”

“We’ll take a walk to the pier,” said Hugo. “To say goodbye to the place.” He grabbed Lily’s wrist in his hand, but his father placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back.

“Hugo,” he thundered. “You’re sixteen, you don’t just tell us what you want to do and do it. You ask for permission from your father or from Aunt Ginny before you do something. Am I understood?”

The people passing by in the hall of the inn glanced in their direction, but Lily was too busy feeling the anger raising in her stomach at her uncle’s words to mind them.

“Perfectly clear, _Father_ ,” replied Hugo coldly. “Can we go now?”

“No,” he retorted. “I don’t want you to wander off like the other day and come back Merlin knows when and make us miss the Portkey.”

“I’d rather miss the Portkey than go home with you,” hissed Hugo.

Lily’s free hand went to his wrist. His fingers were squeezing her almost painfully, and he wasn’t even noticing. “Hugo,” she whispered, but it was no use.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Uncle Ron’s usually pale face was turning redder and redder. “What’s your problem young man? You and Lily have spent a week trying to ruin this holiday. First with your childish antics and then by disappearing for a whole day. Do you have any idea how worried we were? There was a storm, a proper storm and you were somewhere out there and we didn’t know where! We even went to the Stone Circle to look for you, but the people there said that the only two teenagers they saw had disappeared that morning.” He gritted his teeth and added, “And for the rest of the time you’ve just been impossible, pretending things and talking to us as if you had no manners!”

Hugo stood there, emotionless, in front of his father. His fingers were clutching Lily’s wrist painfully now and she tried to unclasp them from around her.

“Are you finished?” he hissed to Uncle Ron. “Because if you’re finished we’d like to go and take our walk now.”

Uncle Ron’s hands balled into fists at his sides. He narrowed his eyes as he glared at Hugo and he seemed ready to jump on him and grab his tee-shirt and haul him a bit more.

“Ron.” Her mother came to stand in front of him. “Ron, look at me.”

Uncle Ron flared his nostrils as he looked away from his son and looked down. “What?” he grunted.

“Let them go,” she murmured.

He shook his head forcefully. “They’re two spoilt brats, that’s what they are, Ginny,” he growled.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his jaw lightly. Uncle Ron closed his eyes and for a moment he looked like he was boneless against her. Then he hugged her back and leant his cheek against her head. “Go,” he growled to them.

Lily almost stumbled when Hugo tugged her forward, she let out a whimper, but he didn’t even hear her. He guided her out of the inn and into the garden, before following the path to the pier and stopping only when there was nobody in sight.

He let her go then, and the rush of blood to her hand was almost painful. He was panting, but Lily suspected that it was for how angry he was rather than for the run.

“Did you see them? They know everything,” he growled. “They know that we know. And still they would boss us around as if they were in the right.”

Lily hugged him, leaning her chest against his back. “Maybe they’re scared,” she murmured, “scared that we’ll say something.”

“Maybe they—oh, bloody hell!” He grasped her forearm and turned to face her. “Did I do that? Sorry, Lily, I wasn’t… I wasn’t even thinking.” He brought her red wrist to his mouth and feather-kissed it as if he could speed the healing.

She smiled at him, but suddenly he stopped and looked at her fingers instead. He slid the Claddagh Ring off her and turned upside down it, before pushing it back into place.

“There,” he murmured, “that means… it means that you belong to someone.”

“It does.” She looked from her finger to Hugo. “And I do.”

He enveloped her in his arms and leant his head against hers. The water sloshed lazily near them and for a moment everything was calm.

Then Hugo tilted his head back and looked down at her.

“No matter what happens,” he murmured, “we’ve each other right? Even if… even if the world goes nuts.”

“Nuttier than this?” She smiled reassuringly.

He nodded. “Nuttier than this.”

“Yes, we’ve each other.”

He brushed a lock of hair away from her face, then he grinned and proceeded to kiss her.

His long nose poked into her cheek and she smiled against his lips. Suddenly she felt rather calm.

Suddenly she managed to forget about her mother and what she had witnessed that week.

Suddenly nothing was as important as Hugo.

Suddenly she felt very much in love with him.

She wondered if that was the way it had started between her mother and her uncle. Had they witnessed something that had brought them closer?

If she closed her eyes she could see herself and Hugo, one, five, ten, thirty years into the future, doing exactly what Ginevra Potter and Ronald Weasley were doing when they thought nobody was looking.

And she could see their children find out about them.

And she could see history repeating itself. Over and over again.

Like an infinite carousel that they weren’t able to stop.

“Shall we go?” Hugo finally whispered against her lips.

She nodded softly, and when he grabbed her hand he didn’t let her go, not even in front of their parents.

Not even when they touched the Portkey or when they landed back in London.

Not even when her mother and his father begged them to let each other go.

FIN


End file.
